Bay Area Council Foundation Awarded $125,000 Grant for Preschool Initiative
We have just received word of a grant award from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in the amount of $125,000 for our Bay Area Employer Engagement Initiative for Early Childhood Education. We’re tremendously excited about this grant for a project effort geared toward achieving a strong, local business support-base for preschool throughout the Bay Area region. Specifically, we’re beginning the process of building a constituency for statewide preschool for four year olds–please contact Linda Galliher, VP of Education, if you are interested in learning more.
Objectives of the initiative are to:
- Increase corporate and public awareness of the power of ECE strategies to improve student academic achievement, lessen the social burden on taxpayers, and help expand the workforce and employees’ career opportunities.
- Mobilize senior executive-level corporate leadership to promote and sustain business-education partnerships that support systemic change, e.g., increased efficiencies and enhanced outcomes.
- Provide forums for business leaders to collaborate in focusing and aligning their education and workforce preparation investments to maximize impact.
- Leverage the involvement of business to help: a) support ECE; b) articulate preschool with K-12; c) optimize data use and make continuous improvements; and d) make systemic school improvements.
- Ensure quality, measurement, and accountability for results.
